Author Holly Willis

Holly Willis is Director of Academic Programs at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, where she teaches, leads workshops and researches emerging forms of teaching, learning and scholarly practice.

Over a black screen, birds chirp in the near distance. The dulcet chords of a cello begin to sound, embellished by a woman’s voice moving joyfully through a sequence of notes before harmonizing with another...

In 1994, a 22-minute film appeared that at once announced a new, prodigious filmmaking talent and helped bring renewed attention to serious short-form filmmaking in the United States. The film was The Smell of...